Help me get this distorted sound

krstko · #1 12-27-2011, 09:51 AM

Yesterday I was on a rock koncert. Basist had an old Fender amp (vintage bassman, tube) and he had to turn it up. Amp started to distort a bit and that was THE BEST distortion I ever heard

It was really soft distortion, almost clean. Any ideas which effect could get me such distortion?

DeltaPhoenix · #2 12-27-2011, 09:57 AM

What equipment are you working with? Sure some pedals can get you close to that sound. I use a lot of effects, I use an OD with Tubes in it, but I also ended up buying a tube amp because I love overdriven tubes.

krstko · #3 12-27-2011, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaPhoenix

What equipment are you working with? Sure some pedals can get you close to that sound. I use a lot of effects, I use an OD with Tubes in it, but I also ended up buying a tube amp because I love overdriven tubes.

I have Hartke HA5500 and I just can't overdrive tube pre. The thing is I don't want full overdrive, just that soft buzz before it

I would get a tube amp but I'm broke..

blastjv · #4 12-28-2011, 05:07 AM

MOST overdrive pedals are meant to get you that sound. It's usually a matter of opinion/taste as to which ones actually do.....

In MY opinion, the Way Huge Pork Loin is the best I've tried for the type of sound you are describing...others will surely chime in with THEIR opinions and you'll end up more confused than when you started...

You need to do a lot of reading in this forum and do a lot of listening to samples online...

-JV

krstko · #5 12-28-2011, 04:05 PM

I already listened to many samples but most samples have full overdrive, so I can't get any good ideas what to look at.

Johnny Crab · #6 12-28-2011, 04:18 PM

Don't know where you are BUT you may be able to bring YOUR bass to a local store that has TUBE-containing pedals and try them. I understand your need. I went from an OLD SVT with 2 cabinets(did the distortion you heard after it was cranked past 9 or 10 o'clock on the volume) to a Line 6 that comes semi-close when set to similar settings I used on my SVT.

krstko · #7 12-29-2011, 01:51 AM

I was looking at few pedals with tubes, but they are too expensive for me :/

phatbass · #8 12-29-2011, 01:53 AM

What's your budget?

xander8280 · #9 12-29-2011, 02:00 AM

If yah use a bass blogger and run it with both outputs together it gives a nice soft overdrive. I suggest using an overdrive and blending a dry signal with it man. It gives you that transparent tube nature. If you do that and push your amp you can get your amps natural tone with it too.

krstko · #10 12-29-2011, 02:03 AM

Maybe 100eur, but that is max. I would go for cheaper if possible (but not cheapest). Maybe Ashdown drive?

JimmyM · #11 12-29-2011, 02:03 AM

Tech 21 Blonde pedal does a good job of copping that sound.

xander8280 · #12 12-29-2011, 02:21 AM

I use a ehx bass blogger and blend the clean and dirty signals, you can get that nice transparent distortion that way. or use a different overdrive and blend with the clean signal

crapusername · #13 12-29-2011, 04:34 AM

I use the hardwire cm2 tube overdrive to get this tone

Jacob J · #14 12-29-2011, 05:12 AM

Man, with 100 € in pocket, I´d go for a secondhand pedal. There are some sites within EU where you could get some, like bassmarkt.de which you may be already familiar with. There is also a great czech site where I buy used gear...Hey, but I´m with you, because I know what it´s like to be from a small post-socialist country and get some nice gear

But regarding topic. Of course the best option would be to get an all-tube amp. I don´t know which pedal in particular would get you in that Bassman territory, but I´ve heard lot of praise on EBS ValveDrive, which is a pedal with an actual tube in it. I saw them going for 150 € used. If you saved up a little more...

ga_edwards · #15 12-29-2011, 06:42 AM

The thing is, when you hear a tube amp cranked to melting point, the drive/distortion you hear is more likely the poweramp tubes, not the preamp tubes. So to cop this sound, a tube pre isn't going to get you very far.

You need something that emulates poweramp distortion like the many TubeScreamer clones set to barely on, or a amp modeller.

Crystalman85 · #16 12-29-2011, 02:17 PM

a boss fbm-1 would probably be a good choice to get that sound. that pedal is modeled after a fender bassman and it sounded pretty cool on bass.

krstko · #17 12-30-2011, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacob J

Man, with 100 EUR in pocket, I´d go for a secondhand pedal. There are some sites within EU where you could get some, like bassmarkt.de which you may be already familiar with.

I will go for used. Didn't know for bassmarkt, nice shop, tx god I speak german too

Didn't get much help till now, except that I need a overdrive pedal set on really low.
EHX looks fair for it's price, but by listening to sound samples it sounds bit hard.